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'Save the family farm' ploy easy to see through

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published August 13, 2006

Did you know that one way to curb rapid development and slow the conversion of family farms into suburban housing tracts is to permanently repeal the estate or death tax?

This argument comes not from environmentalists but from Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, who represents folks in Pasco, Citrus and Hernando who are struggling to cope with much of that fast development.

Brown-Waite was talking to members of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce in Lutz last week. She was there mainly to pick up a "Spirit of Enterprise" award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for her pro-business legislation.

I was there to hear Brown-Waite try out Republican campaign themes for this fall's midterm elections. I was amused, surprised and disappointed by some of what I heard - and didn't hear.

Brown-Waite touted her support for a permanent repeal of the estate tax. The House passed legislation that attached a repeal of the estate tax to an increase in the minimum wage, but the bill stalled in the Senate.

Brown-Waite said the 58 percent estate tax makes farmers want to sell instead of passing down the farm to the next generation.

Without a permanent repeal, she said to me later on, as we get nearer to 2010 when the temporary repeal ends, many farmers are going to bail and get out of farming.

Nice try. I can already hear the campaign commercials. The "death tax" is a favorite GOP bone tossed at red state America. But folks at the Land Trust Alliance, a nonpartisan land conservation group, say it's a red herring. Federal law has a lot of other ways to save family farms than repealing the estate tax. Plus, because we are mostly talking about property worth more than $5-million, the estate tax would affect only major farming operations, which are mostly run by big corporations anyway.

One can expect to hear this argument being replayed over the next three months.

While she was talking to a business group that is historically close to Republicans, Brown-Waite didn't invoke President Bush's name much.

She talked about the tax reform, health care, homeowners insurance, oil drilling "Saying no is not an energy policy", homeland security and immigration ("Secure the border before a guest worker program"). Absent were any "cut and run" references. The war in Iraq is best left unmentioned. President Bush got only a passing reference when Brown-Waite spoke about the federal deficit.

With his bad luck, she said, President Bush shouldn't be buying lottery tickets, pointing to the economic downturn, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the corporate scandals, the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Hurricane Katrina - all on his watch. Some of that is bad luck, some is bad policy.

Since she was addressing a business crowd, I half expected Brown-Waite to talk about the prospects for American businesses after Fidel Castro leaves the scene. She didn't. So I called her later and asked the question.

She knows some older Cubans who feel strongly that the embargo should remain in place. She respects their opinion, wants their support and will continue to vote to keep it that way. But Brown-Waite said she's uncomfortable supporting the tough travel and financial restrictions that keep Cuban-Americans from visiting and helping their relatives back home.

To be blunt, she said, it's a vote that's becoming harder and harder to justify each year.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at (813) 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333 7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 12, 2006, 20:39:16]